The Bicycling thread

[slowpokepete]

I'll make my annual goal set at 5,000 miles this year, but a few obstacles definitely tried to derail this year's achievement, including...discovery of heart disease after minor stroke (May 2021), cardiac ablation in October 2022, and Covid just 2 weeks post-ablation.

Generally my goal is to ride 100 miles per week, although I am thinking that for 2023 I will ride less for the remainder of the Winter, having looked at the effects of the last few years of riding in the slop that contains multiple corrosive agents.

Here's my stats for the past few years....annual mileage followed by elevation...

2022: 4,778 / 300,712

2021: 5,613 / 434,262

2020: 6,202 / 470,538

2019: 10,083 / 525,082 (Festive 500 completed)

2018: 7,830 / 403,957 (Festive 500 completed)

2017: 6,314 / 309,357

2016: 6,151 / 371,250

2015: 5,400 / 407,083

2014: 5,864 / 400,869

2013: 2,858 / 260,174

Here's a link to my Strava => https://www.strava.com/athletes/403203

SPP

[slowpokepete]

December 5, 2022 by SPP™ SlowPokePete, on Flickr

SPP

[robsryder]

Outstanding photo of the sunlit trees "guarding" the path. I might have leaned my bike against the wood rail fence, however.

[robsryder]

It was interesting to see the bikes a few posts back with the double tubes. I guess these are common work cycles for the Dutch folks.

https://workcycles.com/product/workcycles-double-tube/

Seeing these bikes brings to mind a documentary on YouTube about banana hauling bicycles in Burundi. Wow!

dual top tube bikes.jpgScreenshot 2022-12-10 202325.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_gQiOoUwfk

200 kg of bananas going down hill on a bicycle!

Screenshot 2022-12-10 203320.jpg

[slowpokepete]

\ I might have leaned my bike against the wood rail fence, however.

Sometimes I do.

SPP

[kurtr11s]

Pete, sorry to hear about your health issues. Hope things improve this year.

I noticed on your mileage that you notated F500 years. This was the first year we attempted a version of it. About 50 miles per day on the trainer for the week of Christmas through New Years. It was a great head start to the usual Jan 1st resolutions. Much better than my normal holidays activities: eating and drinking way too much.

Last year was a fairly low mileage year for us (about 3500 miles) because we were doing a lot of hiking training (usually a few hours a day, 5 days per week) in the Adirondacks. This was to get us ready to trek to the Manaslu (8th highest) base camp in the Nepalese Himalayas. That ended up being a fantastic trip but we were off bikes for the whole month of September. The training worked out well, although hiking at <5000ft doesn’t quite prepare you for spending days at 16000.

We did one gravel race in June. I crashed and was only able to finish after some lengthy on-trail bike repair. Michelle did fantastic, though. This year we hope to do more gravel events.

I’m excited to focus on the bike once again and look for 2 wheeled adventure. I doubt the BMWs will get a lot of attention, though. We won’t even make it to the national rally because it is the same weekend as our favorite gravel bicycle race. So little time.

[Lee]

Today was the 46th annual BRR ride. It's a bike ride from Perry to Rippey Iowa and back to Perry. 24 miles.
This ride is held no matter the weather. Today was comfortable with temps in the 30s, sunny and winds 10 to 15 during the ride.

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Debbie likes to wait next to the fireplace.
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[bmwdr]

My bike in 1967 as a 15 yo was my brother’s Yamaha 55. Years later I owned a Yamaha Thumper and then in 2020 got into bicycling. N+1 later, I now have a Kish titanium singlespeed, Rocky Mountain Altitude e-bike, Orbea road bike, DR650 and my current BMW R1100RS. Years of bikes, motos, teleskis, kayaks and sailboats have confirmed that I love things that lean. Clearly, this forum’s group have the same philosophy.

[kurtr11s]

Just saw bmwdr’s post. Welcome! This thread is sporadic - this time of year doesn’t see a lot of posts because we aren’t all crazy like Lee. I convince myself that it is ok to just drink tea, sleep, and ride on the trainer while watching bike races. Not the most exciting stuff for photos.

I had never thought about the ‘lean’ aspect - by golly you are onto something. I like that same stuff.

If you have a chance to post some pictures of your rides, it would be appreciated by a few of us. Bonus points for getting both bikes and motos in the same shot.

[Lee]

This year I did 3 days of RAGBRAI , Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday https://ragbrai.com/
Another member of this forum mentioned his wife was doing whole week.
I try to do 3 days when the route is in the southern or central part of the state so I can get home or stay with my sister in Ames each night.
Temps in the 90s this year and it was very crowded due to it being the 50th year. 40,000 to 60,000 riders estimated. Whatever the count it was too many.
I had my phone on my handle bars but didn't get many pictures because it wasn't safe to mess with it in the crowds and sometimes there was too much vibration from the road surface.
Debbie was my support and would meet me a couple times a day.

Tuesday south of Glidden.jpg


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Two ambulances and two EMTs on BMWs travel with the bikes.
Here's a picture from 2019. I usually stop and visit with this guy at least once a RAGBRAI.
2019.jpg

This year when I stopped to visit with him in Newton one of the RTs was dead. Only the emergency equipment worked. After I left I remembered there's a 2nd battery for the emergency lights. They told me they had a spare GS and would probably switch to that.
The first 5 miles on my day 1, I had to walk 3 times because the ambulances were working on two crashes and another spot the Air Force team was helping a couple injured riders.
The riding was very close on Tuesday and Wednesday so you really had to pay attention. Probably 6 to 8 ambulance runs that I saw each day.
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The little guy in the yellow helmet is taking a nap.
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This year there was a 2 mile section of gravel due to construction on a bridge.
Thursday4.jpg

A little dusty after a ambulance went by. Des Moines Register picture
Thursday gravel.jpg


Grinnell has a nice downtown.
Thursday.jpg


Newton
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Capital building in Des Moines
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Thursday1.jpg

Next post will be pictures copied from the Des Moines Register

[Lee]

The below pictures were copied from the Des Moines Register

Iowa Capital building
70473358007-0726-ragbraikk-032.jpg

Newton on Thursday
Newton on Thursday.jpg


Rippey on Tuesday
Rippey Tuesday.jpg


I saw this pool at Polk City on Wednesday. There was a sign next to the road saying feel free to get in. I wonder how nasty the water was at end of the day
Polk City pool.jpg


Slater Wednesday
Slater Wednesday.jpg


Tuesday morning
Tuesday.jpg


Leaving Ames Wednesday morning.
This day was good because it was only 55 miles and I could leave from my sister's house in Ames on the bicycle and got into Des Moines at 12:30 before the high temp of the day.
Wednesday Ames.jpg


Wednesday
Wed Day 4.jpg


When going through towns some had fire hydrants putting out a fine spray to cool off riders. A lot of home owners had hoses spraying riders.
Wednesday.jpg


Each town had water bottle refill stations. Entering or exiting most towns people would hand out bottled water you could grab on the fly and put in your back jersey pocket.
Water refill station.jpg

[slowpokepete]

Awesome.

SPP